I think that if a villain fulfills his part, he can be considered as a well designed, fitting brick in a mosaic.

The only villains I can't stand are those good-for-nothing villain wannabees. You know, ****** abilities, no character, no charisma, and the only thing you feel when you see him is pity. like voldemort from hp

Hmm.. I guess it really depends on how you look at it: from the perspective of a reader/watcher, who simply gains entertainment from said villain, or as an actual person who interacts with them. He is a well-written character, and Mr. Martin certainly succeeded in making him seem realistic and everything... but that doesn't mean that I don't hate Joffrey. He_ is_ a total dick, that's a fact.

I sympathise with Voldemort way more though, as he wasn't 'just evil'; he had a reason for it to an extent. Joffrey doesn't have any reason to be as much of a cuntnugget, except maybe being raised by Cersei... Voldemort just feels more 'real' to me, which is a trait in villains that I love.

Yeah, that's what I meant. A good villain is the one you hate. Only that I treat villains that way- when I finish watching the series/reading a book, I try to look at it from more of a technical point of view. Like, which character was good and which was lame. After that, I often notice that all of my hatred towards a villain is gone, because he 'delivered'. There are not many villains that I would 'hate' even after finishing the series.

Was he? Throughout the hp I was sure that he was just a punching bag for the main heroes, made especially because Harry needed someone to fight. Rowling tried to make him as bad as possible, and the result was- in my opinion- hilarious.

Well, he might've been designed as a 'punching bag', but I still think that he was quite interesting as a character. However, it really frustrates me that Rowling never went much into detail when it came to his past, his motives et cetera. I would love to get to sort-of know him better; after all the consequences of actions and what leads up to a man becoming 'the villain' is utterly fascinating to me. So I guess he lacked something story-wise.. but I still like the idea behind Voldemort. He wasn't terribly sadistic or something, in a way he actually seemed rather pathetic and I like it. ^^

But everyone has their own opinions and views of course. What's needed for a villain to be perfect, in your opinion?

No, they ****** up by killing her. They ****** up her character so bad in the show and right when she was close to redemption they succumbed to the pressure of fans and killed her in the most anti-climatic way possible.